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Barack Obama's center-left philosophy has been evident since his 2004 address to the nation at the Democratic convention. Barack Obama took a political risk as a centrist when he campaigned the length and breadth of Connecticut for Joe Lieberman in the 2006 Senate primary. Since then, he campaigned for President with the most conservative of healthcare plans - no universal mandates or single payer - plus a middle class tax cut, military force in Afghanistan not Iraq, and better support for veterans. Meanwhile, the party's left wing activists preferred Ned Lamont for CT Senate and John Edwards for President. As President, Obama has delivered on those essentials - a stimulus with a middle class tax cut and aid to small businesses, expanded not single payer healthcare reform, and resources shifting from Iraq to Afghanistan, and historic funding for veterans. The President's centrism may be an awakening for observers on the ideological wings but the fact is that Barack Obama has kept a level and center-left approach. The President should get more credit for keeping his word.

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